How We Developed the World’s First Wildlife Trade Integrity Index: A New Tool to Tackle Corruption in Wildlife Trade
- International Lawyers Project
- 14 hours ago
- 4 min read
In July, Yunhua Lin, one of Malawi’s most notorious wildlife traffickers, was unexplicably pardoned by the President. Lin had been sentenced for smuggling ivory, pangolin scales, and rhino horns, with his term set to run until the mid-2030s. Yet even during his three years behind bars, Lin was repeatedly seen conducting business outside prison walls. This suggested, at the very least, bribery of prison officials.
Sadly, cases like this are not unusual. In 2016, Ansoumane Doumboya, the former head of Guinea’s wildlife authority, was arrested for forging 130 permits to export great apes to China. Before serving his sentence, he was also granted a Presidential pardon, to the dismay of conservationists worldwide.
Both Interpol and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have repeatedly concluded that corruption remains the key enabler of wildlife trafficking. Park rangers are bribed to allow poachers access or to reveal the locations of protected animals. Customs and police officers are paid to overlook illegal shipments. In court, prosecutors and judges can be pressured to lose evidence, delay proceedings indefinitely, or dismiss cases. Politicians may provide protection to criminals, share in the profits, or issue pardons when needed.
ILP’s partner TRAFFIC, a world-leading NGO tackling root causes of illegal trade in wild species, has documented nearly a thousand cases in recent years where corruption directly facilitated the illegal trade in wildlife. Seeing the urgent need for stronger action, ILP mobilised its network of leading pro bono lawyers worldwide to help renew the fight against environmental corruption.
Bringing Integrity into the Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking
Despite extensive evidence and countless new cases, little progress has been made in tackling corruption within the wildlife trade. In 2016, countries under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) adopted a resolution urging measures to “prohibit, prevent, detect, and counter corruption” linked to wildlife crime.
Almost a decade later, while the resolution has raised awareness and inspired digital permitting systems, most experts agree that overall progress has been slow.
To help change this, ILP, in partnership with TRAFFIC and pro bono lawyers, has developed the Wildlife Trade Integrity Index, the first global tool to measure and promote anti-corruption practices in wildlife trade systems. This Index maps the specific corruption pathways that enable illegal wildlife trade in each jurisdiction, providing evidence-based support to policymakers, reformers, and civil society. It also offers data and annual evaluations that help determine which interventions are most effective.
By mapping anti-corruption practices across transcontinental wildlife supply chains, the Index – to be published after external review in the first half of 2026 - will help public institutions, the private sector, and civil society identify weaknesses in governance and take action to address them. Publishing the results will encourage governments and companies to align with best practice. The Index will also draw on global lessons by compiling a compendium of successful policy and legal reforms. This helps fill a significant gap in current knowledge about what works in practice.
Indices have often played a key role in generating constructive engagement with governments and corporations, including those that are reluctant to reform. The Wildlife Trade Integrity Index is partly inspired by Transparency International’s Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI), which assesses corruption risks in defence institutions. The GDI has been used as a foundation for dialogue with governments for more than twenty years and has been adopted by NATO as part of its Building Integrity programme. Our Index aims to provide a similar evidence base to support cooperation among civil society, government, the private sector, and oversight institutions, helping to drive meaningful reform.
Building the Index
ILP worked with legal teams from firms including Akin, Hogan Lovells, Orrick and Ropes & Gray who helped draft more than 200 potential indicators, which were then tested by their legal research country teams in 18 jurisdictions, from China and South Africa to France and the UK. The indicators cover themes such as money laundering, whistleblowing, access to information, permitting, enforcement quality, international cooperation, and civil society engagement.
Following pilot testing, the indicators were refined to approximately 43. Around one-third assess legislation, while two-thirds measure implementation in practice.
What We Aim to Achieve
Our next step is to continue working with TRAFFIC, the CITES Secretariat, UNODC, and other wildlife trade experts to refine the indicators and begin benchmarking countries’ performance. Ultimately, we aim for the Index to cover 20 to 30 countries most affected by, or involved in, the illicit wildlife trade. The Index will track progress over time and highlight areas where improvements are occurring.
We also plan to continue collaborating with the pro bono legal team to collect data, assess indicators, and deliver training to policymakers and practitioners. The most important work is yet to begin: after the first results are published, we will be supporting interested countries in understanding where their vulnerabilities lie and what approaches by other countries have worked well, whether closing out loopholes to strengthen anti-corruption laws, forming specialised enforcement units, training judges and front-line border officials on red flags, or empowering civil society to monitor and enforce integrity standards.
Ultimately, our Wildlife Trade Integrity Index aims to bring greater transparency, accountability, and effective corruption controls to the global fight against wildlife crime. Our hope is that it contributes to ending the impunity that allows high-level traffickers to operate with little consequence.
For more information on ILP’s work on nature crimes and corruption, and how we can help your individual organisation ‘governance-proof’ its conservation work by mitigating corruption risks, please contact us at contact@internationallawyersproject.org.
This work was made possible through the support of the Accountability Accelerator. You can support ILP’s work here.
